The Realm of Physics Range of Magnitudes

The Metric System There are 3 countries that DO NOT use the metric system… US Myanmar (Burma) Liberia A base 10 system where each prefix represents a factor of ten (order of magnitude). Each prefix is ten times smaller or larger than the previous one. This makes our lives nice because we can just move decimal points…none of this dividing by 12 or 4 business.

Metric System Karen Has Damaged Many Little Gifts During Christmas Morning Kilo- Hecto- Deca- Meters, Liters, Grams Deci- Centi- Mili- Order of magnitude = power of ten (count the zeros) Ex: 10 is one order of magnitude greater than 1 Ex: 1,000 is 2 orders of magnitude less than 100,000

Scientific notation This “order of magnitude” or factor-of-ten increment makes scientific notation come in handy. Really small things are on the order of Really large things are on the order of What does that mean? Lets look at some common things The mass of a paperclip is about .5 grams. How many milligrams is that? Kilograms? Lets write those numbers in scientific notation Remember: one number in front of the decimal point, multiply/divide by a factor of ten every time you move the decimal right/left. What do the negative exponents mean?

1.1: Range of Quantities in our Universe Objectives: State and compare quantities to the nearest order of magnitude. State the ranges of magnitude of distances, masses, and times that occur in the universe, from smallest to largest State ratios of quantities as differences of orders of magnitudes Estimate approximate values of everyday quantities to one or two sig figs and/or the nearest order of magnitude.

Ranges of Magnitudes Distance Mass Time Diameter of proton = 10-16 m Radius of observable universe = 1026 m Mass Electron = 10-32 kg Total mass of observable universe = 1052 kg Time Passage of light across nucleus = 10-24 seconds Age of universe = 13.7 Billion years ≈ 1019 seconds

Exploring the Size of the Universe www.htwins.net/scale2/ Find 5 objects of various sizes Click on object to reveal facts Record the name, size, distance (if given) for each object, and other interesting info How many orders of magnitude separate your smallest and largest objects? Estimate the size of something you see everyday (basketball, bicycle, bus, etc.) using one object you just learned about.

Create a poster on 1 object from the simulation. Create a poster about 1-2 objects: Put your name and period in the top right corner. State name, mass, and distance of object (if applicable) List interesting info about it State where it falls in comparison to others (smallest, largest, 10x orders of magnitude from human, etc.) Use 4 colors